Process for refining sugar



Ocf- 8, 1940 E, ROBERTS ET Ax.

-RocEss FOR REFINING SUGAR Filed June 1l, 1938 2v@ NMNQQ EvRhAQU ON INVENTO RS Patented Oct. 8, 1940 UNITED STATES PROCESS FOR REFINING SUGAR Eugene Roberts, Hastings,`N. Y., and George E.

Stevens, Denver, Colo., assignors to The Western States Machine Company, New York, N. Y., a

corporation of Utah Application June 11, 193s, sei-iai No. .213,128v

y 4 claims.. (ci. 127-63) This invention relates to the refining of sugar and, more particularly, to a new and improved process for use in the sugar-end operations of a sugar refinery.

5 In the manufacture, for example, of cane sugaraccording to usual practice, concentrated and partially purified juices extracted from sugar polarization, averaging about 96, are obtained, and this raw sugar, at a renner-y, .is passed through an aination or washing stage of treatment in order to remove adherent surface impurities and to raise its purity to 98.5 or greater. In

the aiiination treatment, a semi-fluid magma is formed consisting of raw sugar in admixture with afiination syrup, and this magma is passed into centrifugal machines where the syrup is purged from the sugar crystals and the latter are washed to a purity of 98.5 or greater. The washed sugar from the centrifugals is usually dissolved, ltered and decolorized, and later boiled into white massecuite from which white'sugar is produced. -Prior to the present invention, the afiination process has always been a distinct stage of treatment, regardless of Whether the plant using it produces refined sugar partly or wholly from cane juice (meladura), or whether itengages only in the refining of imported raw cane sugar. The

known ainat-ion processes require special mingling equipment and centrifugals which are separate and distinct from the mixers and centrifugals used for the treatment of massecuites in the same plant. In addition, the requisite supply of aination syrup must be provided as a by-product of plant operations. Syrups of distinct qualities are produced both from the centrifugals which process the aination magma and from the centrifugals which process the massecuite, and these different syrups require different treatment in order to extract their available sugar content most emciently.

An object of our invention is to provide a new and improved process for refining sugar by which the afnation station, as a stage of treatment separate and distinct from other refinery operations, may be eliminated under suitable operating conditions. Another object is to provide an affination process which may be carried out without the aid of a special supply of amnation syrup. A further object of the invention is to provide a process for refining sugar-which is of special value in plants where, during the cane grinding season, white sugar is produced partly from cane juice and partly from imported raw sugar,-inwhich the same mixing and centrifugal equipment is used both for the afiination of raw sugar and for the treatment of massecuites produced in*the plant. Another object is to provide a process which combines the afiination of raw sugar with the curing of massecuitethereby eliminating the .'need for amnation syrup and eliminating procane are boiled'into massecuites from which unwashed raw sugar crystals of about 94 to 97 duction of distinct centrifugal syrups of different qualities from the raw sugar and massecuite treatments. r 1 Still further objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent to skilled workers in this field by the ensuing description.

In its broader aspects, our invention utilizes the discovery that the preliminary purification of 15 grain sugar that is contaminated by adherent surface impurities, such as raw cane sugar, can be carried out to advantage by the mingling of the sugar with a massecuite produced in the normal operation of the sugar plant. In a refinery 20 producing a part of its white sugar output from cane juice and the remainder from imported raw sugar, for example, the invention permits highly economical operations by enabling the same mingling and centrifugal equipment to be, used 2liA both for the recovery of relatively pure sugar from massecuite and from the afiination of raw sugar. It provides a process in which mingled massecuite and raw sugar are treated simultaneously in centrifugals to recover purged and 30 washed sugar, of' high purity, that is ready for remelting, filtering, decolorization and boiling into white massecuite. vThus a massecuite which may have been boiled to a high degree of crystallization is enhanced in crystal content, and a single treatment of the resulting magma serves' all of the purposes of that which has been carried out heretofore in two separate and distinct stages of refinery operations. Furthermore, the use of massecuite as a cleansing and liquefying 40 medium in theA afflnation of raw sugar, inthe practice of this invention, eliminates the necessity of providing special supplies of syrup, from timev to time, to be used as amnation syrup, and it results in the production of only one syrup or 45 seriesof Syrups from the centrifugals instead of the distinct Syrups produced according to prior operations.

The accompanying drawing is a iiow diagram illustrating a. preferred manner of using our in- 50 vention in a cane sugar refinery.

In the illustrated plant arrangement, vacuum pan stations A and B are indicated for the boiling of first and second, or remelt massecuites. A bin R holds raw sugar ready for amnation treatment. 55

The vacuum pans A and B are arranged to discharge massecuites into receiving tanks A1 and Bl, respectively. A single magma treating and purging station C is provided for the treatment of raw sugar entering the process and of massecuites produced in the A and B lvacuum pans. 'I'his station includes special mixing and conditioning apparatus D, preferably of the type illustrated in the pending application of Eugene Roberts, Serial No. 83,634, iled June 5, 1936, and one-or more centrifugal machines E for the treatment of successive charges of conditioned materials withdrawn from the apparatus D.

'I'he apparatus at D comprises a U-shaped tank I having extensive heat-transmitting surfaces distributed substantially uniformly within and lengthwise of the same adjacent the outlets leading to the centrifugals, and means for causing relative movement between said surfaces and the material undergoing treatment, the surfaces as illustrated being provided by hollow coils I2 which are mounted for rotation and are supplied lwith heating uid, at controlled temperatures, from a make-up tank (not shown). A second heating means Il, preferably of similar construction and operation, is arranged lengthwise of the tank above the rst and is partly separated therefrom by bailies I6. In the operation of this apparatus, the rate at which heat is imparted to the material in the tank, forcoils of given heating surface, can be controlled by varying the temperature of the heating fluid, the rate of flow of the heating iluid or the rate of rotation of the coils, so that uniformly conditioned charges of material, at a predetermined controlled temperature, may be withdrawn successively from the tank through the goosenecks I8 for immediate treat- -ment in the centrifugals at E, for example, in

accordance with the process described and claimed in U. S. Patent Re. 20,556, of George E.

Stevens. Materials are fed into the top portion of the tank, substantially uniformly along its length, by means of a distributor 20, to which the materials are carried by a mingling conveyor 22. In addition, apparatus of known and suitable construction is provided for conveying, and' regulating the 'ow of, massecuite from the receiving tanks A1 and B1 to the conveyor 22, for regulating the ow of raw sugar from the bin R vinto the conveyor 22, and for introducing a regulated amount of syrup into conveyor 22 when desired, in accordance with the flow lines shown in the drawing.

In the operation of this system, the aifination of raw sugar delivered from bin R is carried out with the aid of, and simultaneously with the treatment of, massecuite from a massecuite receiving tank A1 or B1. 'I'he massecuite usually will be at a temperature considerably above atmospheric temperature, but somewhat lower than vits final boiling temperature due to cooling in the receiving tank or during passage into the conditioning equipment. Ordinary rst or second or remelt massecuites in a cane factory or refinery are suitable for the process. the purities of which may range between about 65 and about 90. Such massecuites, in order, to be treated effectively in centrifugals, are usually dropped from vacuum pans after being boiled to about 90 per cent. dry substance (Brix), and they consist of from about 40 to 58 per cent. sugar crystals and saturated mother liquor. Raw cane sugar ordinarily has a dry substance of about 99 per cent. Fbr best practical operations. to avoid non-uniformities in the syrups and sugars produced from the system and obtain sugars and run-offs of optimum purity for reprocessing, it is preferred to operate the system with massecuites having `a purity of 75 or greater instead of alternately using massecuites from first and second, or high and low purity remelt, boilings.

In the practice of our process, regulated streams of massecuite from one of the vacuum pans and of raw sugar from the bin R are introduced into the conveyor 22 where they are mixed to some extent and from which they pass into the distributor 20 as a thick viscid mass that is'unsuited for treatment in the centrifugal machines. 'Ihe mixing of raw sugar at atmospheric temperature with the massecuite causes the resulting mass to be considerably cooler than the massecuite where the latter has not cooled completely before treatment. The raw sugar can be mixed with massecuite in various proportions so long as y the per cent. dry substance of the resulting mass is not so great as to prevent a suitable semi-uid consistency being acquired at elevated temperatures.

The mass of combined raw sugar and massecuite drops into the mingler tank I0 from the distributor, and in the mingler tank it is thoroughly stirred while dry heatis introduced from the heated surfaces of the revolving coils at I4 and I2. The input of heat is controlled in relation to the rate of withdrawal of magma through the goosenecks I8, so that, by thev time the materials reach the goosenecks, their temperature has been raised to a point at which the magma possess a uid consistency and is in condition for eicient treatment in the centrifugals at` E. 'This temperature varies under different operating conditions but preferably will approximate or be slightly higher than the temperature at whichthe boiling of the massecuite has been completed, for example, about 160 to 170 F.

The thorough intermingling ofr massecuite and raw sugar and the simultaneous addition of large amounts of heat thereto cause the initially heavy \-mass, having a consistency resembling wet sand,

liquor from the massecuite. During this treatment adherent surface impurities carried by the raw sugar crystals are softened and moisten'ed by the hot mother liquor, and the vigorous mingling of raw sugar in the highly crystalline magma causes. a large proportion of these impurities to be loosened from the crystals, all without dissolving any substantial amount of the crystals. The manner in which this occurs and the operation of the mixing and conditioning apparatus are substantially the same as in the aiiination process described and claimed in the copending application of George E. Stevens. Serial No. 151,772, filed July 3, 1937, now United States Letters Patent No. 2,175,998.

From the mixing and conditioning apparatus D. successive charges of the conditioned magma, preferably at predetermined and uniform temperatures, are introduced into the centrifugal machines at E. Here they are purged of practically all of their mother liquor content, which is collected from the machines in a low-purity run-olf fraction consisting principally. of green syrup, and they are then subjected to the action of a washing liquid in order to remove-imcontaining recoverable sugar, and is preferably collected separately from the green syrup in a high purity centrifugal run-off fraction. The purities of these run-off fractions may be controlled for best process performance'by appropriate control over the proportions of green and wash syrups collected together in each fraction. The apparatus and operations used at E preferably are of the types developed by Eugene Rob# erts vand are now well known in the American sugar industry.

In this process, involving the afnation of raw sugar in combination with the treatment of massecuite, the purities of the run-off fractions collected from the centrifugals may be regulated so as to be suited for passage to vacuum pans of lower purity than the pan in which the massecuite originated, for boiling into massecuites of lower purity.

The washed sugar recovered from the centrifugals, when the mixing, conditioning and centrifuging treatments are carried out according to preferred practice, attains a purity of 98.5 or greater. At this purity it is in condition for remelting (dissolution), and passage through fliters and decolorizing material to form a clear liquor that may be boiled into white massecuite for the production of white sugar.

If desired, part of the high purity run-off fraction recovered from the centrifugals may be introduced into the mingling. conveyor 22, although this is not necessary in preferred embodiments of the process.

The process and arrangement of equipment herein described permit massecuites to beboiled at A or B from concentrated cane juice, or meladura, and such massecuite ma'y then be treated simultaneously with incoming raw sugar which supplements the production from cane juice to obtain va washed, crystalline, composite product of high purity that forms the principal material, after melting and decolorization for white massecuite boilings. When the cane grinding season is over, the refinery may continue operations by the aiilnation of imported raw sugar at the illustrated conditioning and centrifugal station, in accordance with the process described in the aforesaid United States Letters Patent No. 2,175,998 of George E. Stevens. l

'A refinery which grinds about 2,000 tons of sugar cane per day during the grinding season and desires to refine suillcient raw sugar to bring its daily melt of sugar for refining up to 500 tons may be mentioned as an example of the type of operations for which the present invention is particularly advantageous. Assuming a yield of sugar for rening of about. 121/2% on the basis of tons of cane, (as in some sugar cane areas), such a plant will need to treat about 250 Ytons of imported raw sugar of 96 polarization per day to bring its daily melt upto 500 tons. From 2,000

tons of cane about 10,000 cu. ft. of first or A,

massecuite of about per cent. dry substance,

will be produced. Assuming 1,000 cu. ft., or 46.25 tons at 90 per cent. dry substance, of massecuite per pan boiling, the requisite daily melt is maintained by combining and treating the massecuite from each pan with about 25 tons of raw sugarv aination of incoming raw sugar, and without requiring the separate equipment and special supplies of amnation syrup which have been used heretofore wherever raw sugar is reilned.

While, for purposes of illustration, we have described particular methods of using our invention, We recognize that it may be applied in other ways and without limitation to any particular conditions or details of operation. We therefore intend that the appended claims be accorded a scope commensurate with the novel contributions of the invention as interpreted in the spirit of the disclosure and without restriction to nonessential details.

We claim:

1. The process of rening sugar which com-l prises combining massecuite with granular sugar having adherentl surface impurities, heating the combined materials so as to impart a fluidity suitable for eicient separation of solids from liquid, and thereafter separating grain sugar from the liquid content of the combined materials 2. The process of refining sugar which comprises combining massecuite with granular sugar having adherent surface impurities, heating the combined materials so as to impart a fluidity suitable for purging, and then purging them in centrifugal machines. y

3. In the processing of sugar, the steps which comprise boiling a massecuite, mingling the massecuite with raw sugar, heating the mingled mass so as to impart a fluidity suitable for-centrifuging, and then separating its liquid and solid constituents and Washing the latter in centrifugal machines.

4. In the production of white cane sugar, the steps which comprise boiling massecuite from process materials and concentrated cane juice, mingling such massecuite with raw cane sugar, stirring and heating the combined materials to increase their temperature and fluidity and to loosen adherent impurities from the raw sugar,

and thereafter separating liquid and solid constituents of the resulting magma in centrifugal machines. s

EUGENE ROBERTS. GEORGE E. STEVENS. 

